ting remarks and slaps in the face.... Will
the Jewish nation stand all this?

Yes, it will undoubtedly stand this frightful trial. There is
something in its inner nature that enables it to hold out under the
most terrible conditions.

At the house of a representative of the Jewish community, I find
several people who handle the transportation and distribution of the
deported Jews.

"How many people have passed through your hands?"

"Several thousand. We get word by telegraph from the centres of
deportation as to how many people we should keep and how many send
further."

"Where do you get the means necessary for these operations?"

"The entire Jewish population of our town has imposed upon itself a
systematic refugee tax. This source furnishes us 3,000 rubles monthly.
Of course this is very little, ours is a poor town. Then we get
financial aid from the Jewish communities, which do not have to help
the deported directly. We have received several thousand rubles from
Smolensk, Petrograd, Moscow, and elsewhere."

"And how about the Russian population, does it render you any
assistance?"

"No, its attitude toward the deported is at best indifferent, and at
worst hostile."

"And the Jews, do they not protest against this new tax?"

"Oh, no, not in the least. You have no idea to what an extent the
feeling of solidarity grows among us in such cases. Here is an
instance. A train with the deported arrived here yesterday. It was
Saturday. That is, as you know, a sacred day for the Jews.
Nevertheless, all our Jewish coachmen came to the station to take the
newcomers to the town. We have asked them to come to-day to get paid
for their services. Not one of them appeared. And so it has been all
along. There is not a Jewish coachman in the town who would take money
in such a case. On the contrary, they would be insulted if they were
not asked to do their bit. When the first train arrived, the present
self-taxation was not yet in existence. We received the telegram
suddenly. Nothing was in readiness. Our young people got busy and
started canvassing the Jewish houses. And at once people brought all
they could: tea, sugar, eggs, milk. We met the hungry ones with full
hands. No, we cannot complain against the Jews; they do all they can,
even the poorest."

The representative shows me a heap of telegrams. Their contents are
brief: "To Rabbi so-and-so. Meet 900; meet 1000; meet 1100." Only the
numbers differ....

"And wh